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Six Feet Under > Bringer of Blood > Reviews
Six Feet Under - Bringer of Blood

About as awful as the cover art would suggest. - 25%

Voice_Of_Steel, December 21st, 2021
Written based on this version: 2015, Digital, Metal Blade Records (Bandcamp)

What is there to say about Six Feet Under that hasn’t already been said a million times over? This side project turned solo project of ex-Cannibal Corpse frontman Chris Barnes has been an object of scorn for metalhead’s the world over ever since the late 90’s and is widely considered to be one of the worst mainstream death metal acts ever. Ever since the release of a generic, albeit passable debut, the band has been on a seemingly endless downward spiral of trying to make each subsequent entry in their absurdly large discography worse than the last. Personally, I first “experienced” this laughably bad band through their third album, Maximum Violence, which I ignorantly purchased out of a CD store clearance bin several years ago. I think it's safe to say that when one of a band’s highest rated albums starts off with a death metal rap song, there is no way to go but down on their lower rated releases.

On Bringer of Blood, the band’s sixth full-length, Six Feet Under make it clear from the get go that they have zero intention of righting the wrongs of their previous disaster True Carnage, which was universally panned by everyone with functioning eardrums. The album opens with “Sick in the Head”, which is utterly abysmal. The song begins with whispered vocals layered over Barnes’ infamous cookie monster death growls, which both sound atrocious when put together. This continues for 30 seconds before the song switches to Barnes growling “you’re dead to me” over and over again before finally shrieking “OH MY FUCKING GOD” in his nasally Bleeding-era Cannibal Corpse voice. The entire intro to this song is absolutely terrible, but it was at the shriek where I lost my shit when originally listening to this. Better yet, this part is repeated throughout the song, killing any sense of the tension or seriousness that the band was clearly going for here with the cringy, try-hard opening. Aside from the terrible vocals and lyrics, the song is musically quite generic and contains nothing worth talking about riff or drumming wise.

The rest of the album continues in the same fashion with the exception of the second track, “Amerika the Brutal”, which goes for a groovy, death 'n' roll sound and while this song is also laughably bad, I’d argue that it’s the best thing on the album. This song has simplistic, catchy guitar work and drumming that make it stand out in an otherwise aggressively boring album. The vocals are still awful and on the chorus, Barnes’ vocals sound particularly strained while he shouts “NO WAR” over and over again. Personally, I see this as an example of a “so bad it's good” song. As mentioned previously, the other songs on the album are basically just the first song played at varying speeds. The guitars occasionally play a solid, head-banging death metal riff, but the vast majority of the album is generic, despite the fact that some of the band members played in heavyweight death metal bands like Death and Massacre before this. On top of the generic playing, Barnes’ vocals had already started deteriorating by this point and his lyrics here on Bringer of Blood, as one might guess, are a far cry from his legendarily nasty Cannibal Corpse material. Overall, the music on here is sub-par death metal at best.

Normally when writing reviews, I try to go at least a bit in depth with line-up information and the background behind the album’s creation, but in this case, I really don’t think anyone cares. It’s Six Feet Under, of course it’s bad. While nowhere near as terrible as the band’s most recent offerings, Bringer of Blood serves as yet another example of this band’s consistent failure to produce decent material, no matter how many competent musicians there are backing Chris Barnes. If you want to laugh, there are a few bits here that are likely to deliver on that front, but if you are looking for quality death metal there is literally no reason why you should listen to this (or any of this band’s other albums really). It is honestly baffling to me how a band this bad can continue to put out albums and tour when much better underground projects struggle to get signed and fade into obscurity. But hey, they are fun to bash, so at least there’s that I guess.

Originally written for www.sputnikmusic.com under my alternate username.

Chuggalos rejoice - 30%

autothrall, June 1st, 2011

Perhaps I've just been looking at Six Feet Under in the wrong light. Maybe this band was actually birthed as a comedy troupe, a more subversive and brutal alternative to a Tenacious D or Weird Al Yankowic. Maybe Chris Barnes and crew are laughing all the way to their next paycheck, each time they release one of these stolid and mentally handicapped emissions unto the world. A googly eyed skull stares in separate directions while its head is adorned with goathorns and other floppy things that make it look like an undead jester. The 'Play' button reveals nothing more than awkwardly conceived vocals between blunt and snarled poles. Bad death metal grooves that were frankly not fit for most of the half-assed groove and nu-metal bands in the mid to late 90s. Pedestrian lyrics that exhibit not even the most frivolous trace of effort. Welcome once more to Six Feet Under. This is all a joke, right?

Perhaps the most criminal irony about Bringer of Blood is that the mix of the album sounds so much fresher and bloodier than all of its predecessors. They were truly able to extract a gut wrenching power from the guitars this time around, and Barnes' deeper vocals are better pronounced and less like a sad gorilla that had its zoo toys taken away from it. But the songs themselves are largely more of the same, pathetic and embarrassing fare that would not take the canny musician even a brief instant to compose. For example, "Sick in the Head" is naught more than generic grooves and chugging rhythms that for some reason have not put Steve Swanson to sleep, slathered in annoying grunts and rasps and a chorus break that sounds like Barnes is channeling Mr. Ed into his gutturals! And then then next song is dubbed "Amerika the Brutal" and sounds like a mix of GWAR! and The Offspring, with 6FU vox. I am not making this up. How the hell do I persist and not turn this slop off?

You'd think it could not get any worse, but then in the very NEXT song ("My Hatred") Barnes starts grunting 'Hell yeah, hell yeah, what the fuck you gonna do' in what might be the lamest and weakest indictment of Christianity ever penned in extreme metal. A few of the middle pieces like "Murdered in the Basement" and "When Skin Turns Blue" take a turn for the better, but really they're nothing more than the same puerile post-Obituary grooving mosh anthems that this band had been releasing for years already. Ditto for "Escape from the Grave". In the end, I wish I could send a sympathy card to whoever wasted his time making such drivel sound so coiled and powerful, but I won't, since Chris Barnes produced it and even had a hand in the mix. Bringer of Blood is just another miserable toilet splash in the sad, sodden output of Six Feet Under.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

It's soo....fucking....bad.... - 45%

TheSunOfNothing, August 30th, 2009

The only other SFU albums I have are "Warpath" and "Graveyard Classics", both of which are terrible in their own rite. "Warpath" was retarded, but not to the point that it was funny, and "Graveyard Classics" was an abomination beyond belief. Like those albums, this one lacks any merits (aside from the production, and one might say they did get a good tone out of the guitar) and compared to something like Death or Suffocation this isn't even music, but unlike those albums, this one is actually funny.

Chris's voice is probably going to be the first thing you'll notice on the album. He sucks, but that's old news. Chris does do some pretty cool guttural death growls similar to what he did on "Tomb of the Mutilated" on the song "Murdered in the Basement" though, which could either make someone happy to know he still CAN do those inhuman vocals, or make someone mad to know that he does this shit instead. Not only is his voice bad, his lyrics are terrible as well. Or, depending on how you look at it, they are amazing! Lines like "A skeletons hand shoved up your ass!!!!", "A chopped off leg, a poped out eye, I hope you are the next to die!!!", "I hate your lies, I HATE MY LIFE" or the ultimate "MOTHA-FUKIN DEATH", make it very hard to take this band seriously, but definatly make it more enjoyable to listen to the album.

The guitars and bass aren't playing death metal riffs, which is no suprise, but they also aren't playing those southern-rock inspired riffs like they did on "Warpath". Instead, here they play straight-up nu metal riffs, like the one in "Bringer of Blood", "Ugly", etc. I can imagine Fred Durst rapping all over this shit. Ugh. Also, the punk riffs in "Amerika the Brutal" are cringe-worthy. As previously said, the guitar has a pretty good tone, and the bass is audible, but none of that matters when the riffs are THIS fucking bad. The drums are too low in the mix, and the snare and bass drum sound like shit. Maybe if he would actually do something that took talent to play the music would sound better here. I'll admit though, Steve is a pretty good guitarist, considering his solos in songs like "Murdered In the Basement", are so fucking fast, and the sweep picking in "Blind and Gagged" is fairly impressive as well.

The songs themselves are all very similar. Some of the funniest tracks are "My Hatred" (I can totally imagine a music video for this song, exactly like Limp Bizkit's "Rollin'"), "Ugly", and the infamous "When Skin Turns Blue". All the others are funny, but these are the best. "When Skin Turns Blue" is currently my favourite Six Feet Blunder song, because of it's opening riff that would make even Wes Borland cringe.

Also notable here is the closing track, "Escape From the Grave", which, as has been noted before, sounds like they were trying to immitate something that sounds like a mixture of Death's "Individual Thought Patterns" and "Scream Bloody Gore" albums. Now, I'll give Chris credit, he has come up with some Chuck Schuldiner (RIP)-esque vocal lines, and this DOES sound a bit like Death, so the few points I gave this album go to this song, because at least they TRIED to sound good.

I would suggest you download this album, as it's definatly something anyone who likes death metal will enjoy simply as a self-parody routine.

Bringer of Lol - 80%

MorbidPickle, April 30th, 2006

Bringer of Lol – 80%

Nearly three years after Six Feet Under’s latest stroke of comedic genius, Graveyard Classics, comes Bringer of Blood, a masterpiece of pure hilarity from beginning to end. Proving that any genre of music can be comedy, Chris Barnes and co. have recorded and released 11 tracks of death metal so funny that I was almost in tears the first time I heard it. As always, the album features plenty of Chris’ extra-br00tal vocals which sound oddly like a goose choking on a Steve Souza, which is just as ridiculous as it sounds. On to the song-by-song analysis.

Sick in the Head: This track starts off with Chris Barnes being really br000tal, and setting the tone for the rest of the album. The riff is dumb, and when he breaks into his extra-br00tal voice, and screams OH MY FUCKING GOD, it makes one want to fall off their chair laughing. Then we have a br00tal breakdown, and most br00tality. Hillarious.

Amerika the Brutal: The first track was funny, but this one definitely takes the cake. Starting off with a bass line that gives one the irresistible urge to JUMPDAFUCKUP, Chris Barnes begins raving about politics, of all things. According to Chris, it is spelled Amerika because the K stands for killers, and that’s what America is. Highlights of this track include the odd pots-and-pans drum sound during the chorus, his referring to Bush as “fake president” and the as always, Chris Barnes’ downright priceless vocals.

My Hatred: After the first two songs, this song’s hilarity isn’t as high, perhaps in an attempt to give your sides a break from the side-splitting laughter. However, there are some great lyrics in this song including “that’s right bitch, uh huh”, and “hear what the fuck I’m sayin?” Not too memorable though.

Murdered in the Basement: This track’s lyrics, as always, are packed full of hilarity. Some of the most memorable ones are “MURDERED IN THE BASEMENT! DON’T GO DOWN THARR” and “A SKELETON’S HAND SHOVED UP YOUR ASS.” The riff is actually not terribly bad and neither is the drumming, but nothing can save this song from utter hilarity. Steve Swanson’s random, barely-intelligible seven-second solo is the highlight of the song, which proves that Six Feet Under want to be a punk band. However, they’re better off as a comedy troupe.

When Skin Turns Blue: This track is the absolute best on the album. Not only are the lyrics as ridiculous as ever, but the riff is just as funny. If Chris Barnes could write ridiculous lyrics and magically turn them into riffs, the result would be the riff from this song. The riff overshadows the lyrics in ridiculousness on this track, but the lyrics are still worth mentioning. Highlights include “your death, your blood, your life, you’re dead” and “when skin turns blooooooooooooo!” I can’t say enough about that riff though. It will get stuck in your head and you’ll start laughing at the most inopportune places.

Bringer of Blood: Six Feet Under are crafty fellows. Back on track two, I JUMPDAFUCKUPed, but the songs after didn’t have the same effect. However, just as I start to GETDAFUKBAKDOWN, Bringer of Blood comes on which makes me want to JUMPDAFUKUP even more than before. From now on I’ll know better, and when listening to Six Feet Under’s next album I’ll stay up. Anyway, the riff in this track is even funnier than When Skin Turns Blue’s. This track also features what may be a first in Six Feet Under history: Chris Barnes doing clean vocals! It isn’t very obvious and rather hidden behind the phat riff, but it’s definitely there. The lyrics are very sparse on this track, and they don’t seem to be trying to mean anything which isn’t very funny at all. The track is funnier if you picture them playing live, and JUMPDAFUKUPing. Pure comedy

Ugly: This song isn’t terribly funny, except for the extra-br00tl vocals here and there, and a few lyrics, like “mothafuckin death”, “when I woke up they were all fucking dead! Dead!” and “you’re so ugly you deserve to die”

Braindead and Blind and Gagged: These two songs are pretty forgettable. On their own they’d be pretty funny, but after the brilliance of When Skin Turns Blue, they’re just not that great. Pretty forgettable.

Claustrophobic: Bahahaha, this is so stupid. He starts using pitchshifted vocals that sound like a cross between some stupid industrial crap and a megaphone. The lyrics, once again, are great though. "I feel like the walls are closing in!" Ridiculous.

Escape from the Grave: Chris is a big Death fan apparently, and he wanted Terry Butler to write him an Individual Thought Patterns-esque song. Fine. The problem is that Steve Swanson is no Chuck, and Chris Barnes isn’t either, as much as he tries to sound like him. This actually might be one of the funniest parts of the album, them trying to sound good but just failing.

This is the funniest album I’ve ever heard, bar none. It’s actually funnier than Graveyard Classics. Anyone who’s a fan of comedy should definitely check this out.

Goddamn, I love you... - 55%

wiggakvlt, October 30th, 2005

Six Feet Under's fifth album is uhhh 'interesting'. It starts with Sick in the Head, which is actually a fairly cool song, but what the fuck happened to Chris' voice? Too many cones or a failed attempt to be more melodic, either way, the result is unintentional humour. Especially in the ' I hate your lies/I hate my life part'.

Then comes Amerika the Brutal, another SFU political song. Now while I agree with much of what Chris is saying, the song itself is merely okay. It's pretty catchy, and features another silly vocal from Chris.

My Hatred follows and is reminiscent of Sick in the Head. Death-lite groove? Check. Blown out vocal performance? Check. Dopey lyrics? Check. The chorus is actually fairly memorable in spite of itself, which is already becoming a reoccurring theme with this release.

Murdered in the Basement fucking rocks. This is the best SFU song wince Maximum Violence. It plunges forward with a simple a hell Deathpunk riff, and is just cool. That part where Chris bellows 'Murdered in the basement - don't go down there...' never fails to crack me up.

When Skin Turns Blue is the FUNNIEST song on here. Not intentionally of course, for while SFU don't take themselves very seriously, it's the unintentional humour which makes these guys laugh out loud funny. Not only are the lyrics the stupidest on here (yes, I know stupidest is not really a word, but I'm illustrating a point here) but Chris' vocal is fall down funny. I mean that middle eight where Chris says 'Goddamn *insert thing here*" is funny as shit on principle, but when he tries 'Goddamn, all of you', It sounds for all money like 'Goddamn, I LOVE you.' Comedic gold!

Then comes the yawn inducing title track. There's an ominous part that sounds fairly cool, but most of it is Chris rapgrowling 'bringer of blood' or 'together we're as one' over a simple groove. Next.

Ugly and Braindead are more of the same in the vein of Sick in the Head, My Hatred and When Skin Turns Blue, except the joke is starting to wear thin. At this point, I feel it meritorius to mention the production which is muddy and crusty, which many don't like, but I think it's the best aspect of the album.

Blind & Gagged is a hybrid of Amerika the Brutal and the rest of the album, and is one of the tracks that is actually pretty cool. Claustrophobic is Non-Existence from Warpath revisited, but lesser effect. A lot like this whole album, really.

Escape From the Grave is a tribute to Chuck Schuldiner and is another one of the album highlights. Nothing amazing, but a pretty good song. Overall, Bringer of Blood is a pretty hit and miss release which is redeemed mostly by a cool, crusty production and a lot of unintentional humour, but I'm not so sure whether that makes it worth buying or not. For SFU diehards and those who are in need of a good laugh.

...So they delivered a lump of newly excreted shit - 12%

Funeral_Shadow, September 12th, 2004

Six Feet Under technically were one of the first death metal groups I got into. I bought their True Carnage album (which I believe is their best release up to date) and loved it. So okay... what else can Six Feet Under deliver for the fans? Let's turn to Bringer Of Blood and see if they can still deliver that same old gorey, humorous, bloody mess like they did on True Carnage. Don't look so far though because I'll let you know now that they DON'T deliver blood as the name of the album reads.

"Sick In The Head"... [thinks to himself]... well the beginning, with all of the death metal talking sounded like it would be a good song and a nice intro to what's in the album. After the 40 second introish beginning, I get surprised by the opening riff... a weak watered down riff that equivalent to the guitar sounds of Korn. It's slow... it's sludgy... as for the first impression of the bass, it's very evident which is good but it should never really be as loud as the guitars! Greg Gall plays the drums which Donald Tardy of Obituary used years ago and claims that drums which are aged sound the best. This could be true... but damn do the drums sound like punkish drums... or in the metal world just terrible! Now Chris Barnes vocals comes in... and we would hope it be just like the ones presented in True Carnage but... but... but... anticipation builds up and you hear shit being crapped out the wrong end of the body! What happened?! Too much weed? Just felt like having one of those mallcore vocals?! I dare to even call this "legends" vocal style growls... it's just very hoarse! This is the overall look on the groups sound.

As for this song, it's boring. Period! The riffs as I remarked are slow and watered down. Drums... crap, nothing spetacular. Bass... very loud and not always a positive thing but they do sound good. Chris sounds like a person whom smoke too many bongs for one day in this song. Though there is a funny part in the song where he goes like "...oh my fucking god!!!" I just laugh when I hear this part because he sounds soooo goddamn funny. He wants to give the impression of being necro & political but in this song, he is equivalent to a clown. Come to think of it, this is the only reason I listen to this "song"... because of those momments when he says those lines. I'm laughing just thinking about that rediculous part, as to how silly he sounds screeching that... sounding like a sheep being slaughtered. Let alone the lyrics make no damn sense... hence the chorus "I hate your lies... I hate my life..." Uh Chris, are you high... again?!

Next up is "Amerika The Brutal." Here we see an attempt by Chris trying some ebonics; purposely mispelling America like a dumbass. What's the point of spelling it like that? Doesn't prove anything except how pitiful Six Feet Under has become overtime. Anyway, excuse that purpose type-o and you will see... er I mean hear that this song is so-so. At first, you'll think "oh what is this now?! Six Feet Under playing a stupid punk-influenced song?" Well it is very punk-influenced, but just listen and see that it isn't that bad. Still the guitars are terrible, drums shit, bass meaty, Chris still shitting out the wrong end of his mouth. Talk about crapping out the wrong end of your body, it seems Chris has shitted out of his brain also which is humanly impossible but he proves it's possible with his terrible lyric writting. Now these lyrics make no sense what-so-ever. I'm all for the idea of expressing your political belief (especially if it's about Bush) but if it's not reasonable, then you (like SFU) prove how idiotic you can be. "Mr. President, I'm not here to do your dirty war... We're fighting for freedom, not for oil..." Wow... the surprises you'll find in the human anatomy... shitting out of your mind... so it's possible! Please, if you know anything about the War on Terror and Bush, tell me that the lyrics to the song don't make any goddamn sense! Hate me if you will but this song ain't that bad like I said and I do like the overall message in the song... "NO WAR!!!!!"

"My Hatred"... tch, such garbage! What a lame intro... those riffs... you can truley hear how wussy they sound. Chris is trying to sound all scary with his whispers in the beginning saying continuously "my hatred..." Then it begins to become even more weaker with Chris kinda rapping in the song... er I mean "song" and the chorus... oh gosh what a poor attempt to a chorus! He tries making it catchy with the rhymes but in the end, it becomes childish. Now I just want to make it clear that it doesn't take talent to say over and over again in a song "hell yeah... hell yeah!" Apparently, you would think a veteren at music writting like Chris Barnes would know any better, but like I said, I think it's the weed getting to him. Thus it shows you the effects of weed... so if you're hooked on weed... STOP or you'll become like Chris!

"Murdered In The Basement", finally the album speeds up! This song is speedy but still crap! I know Six Feet Under are a group which play slow-tempo death metal, but shoot in this album all of the songs are slow AND boring at the same time... not like their other releases. So here the song is fast, but as I remarked it's nothing spetacular. I forgot to mention the constant cursing in this album which gets quite annoying, and in this song the pre-chorus goes something like "I hate your fucking guts... I've got a special place for you..." Let's see... "hate" must have been said over 10 times already in this album. Don't they have a bigger choice of vocabulary?! Like I said, it's speedy but damn nothing is in harmony in the song... the guitars are there and bass lines are waaaaay over on there and drums are somewhere 5 miles behind! Anyway, the cursing is annoying also as I remarked and as for this song... [yawn]... next!

"When Skin Turnes Blue", well I can speak from experience. I thought I was getting bored to DEATH when hearing this song so yeah I can understand the title... my skin was purple by the time I went to stop the "song." I can understand why SFU made a song like this... because as I said, I was getting bored to death. That was their intention with the song and that's how they are today... boring. Good job guys; mission accomplished! Nothing new to say about this... just boring weak riffs with crappy one dimensional drumming and lyrics which make no friggin sense at all.

Okay, now we're making progress! "Bringer Of Blood" was a last minute track added but it's a highlite of the album. I consider it more of an instrumental than a actual song with lyrics because the lyrics on the song are sort of spoken by Chris, not sung. The riff is a catchy little bitch and the drumming is done in some tribal fashion and the bass is meaty as fuck and Chris continuously says "bringer of blood" repeatidly over and over and oh my goodness for the first time Chris Barnes uses clean vocals! Wow there's something very different to hear... he's sort of going "hummmmm..." in clean vocals; sounds kinda gospelish if you ask me. It makes the track all the more catchier. Likewise these lyrics aren't clariable but hey the music is kick ass. It's very moshable and definitally was a good idea to add at the last minute. This must be one of the only few good tracks on the album.

Don't get all excited because here we go again on this rollercoaster down a tunnel back to being sucky. "Ugly" is well how do I say... ugly! The band members knew what they were doing when they named this track ugly because it's just another terrible track! The beginning starts with a super watered down guitar; it's almost like the guitar is drowning in water and suffocating! So Chris delivers his watered down vocals onto all the wet shit going on in this "song" and once again, it's another track number 1, 3, 5... basically sounding like every goddamn other track on this album! Slow with the same sounding riffs and the one dimensional drumming... it's just... [yawn]... boring!

"Braindead"... damn when I read that song name, I thought it would be a cover of Exodus' "Braindead" song but why did I even think that?! Hell if it was anyway, then it would be terrible; after hearing stuff from their "Graveyard Classics", why would I want to even hear another goddamn cover from this group?! Well anyway, the riff opener... ha, so damn mediocre! I don't play guitar, but I'm sure I can even play what Mr. Steve Swanson was playing here! Then comes in the very repetitive sound that this album has throughout itself. Now this track though is super-duper slow and crappy... no need to explain how this track is. If you read how the other bad tracks were, then you have an idea as to how this track sounds.

Here we have another track which sounds very punky also. What's going on with SFU in "Blind and Gagged?!" Now they're going to be a punk band? They should be that actually because I'm sure they'll be much more sucessful playing that style than claiming they're death metal. It's trashy, what else can I say?! The lyrics are stupid like usual and the music is weak like punk music. Did I mention that the guitar solos sound very weak also?! Most of the guitar solos would sound nice on the album only if they were much louder and heavier. Steve Swanson performs very well when pulling off solos, I'll give him that, but they're not top notch on this album. Once again... the cursing... it's very childish and the way Chris expresses himself is pitiful. My angsty twelve year old cousin could do better with expressing!

"Claustrophobic" is not bad of a track. It's has a cool riff part inbetween the parts of the songs where you're guaranteed to headbang... something you'll never do to the rest of this album. Though they have to fuck up the track with Chris' muffled speaking in the middle of the track. This is noteworthy, but it gets broing hearing this after two times or so.

Lastly for the listed tracks is "Escape From The Grave." Finally, old school-schemed SFU lyrics dealing with graves and so on... not like this political shit he's been rapping about throughout the CD. In this track, Chris uses his high pitch growls which is different, but still sucks. The music is shit also with the puny riffs (have I made this clear already?!) and the drumming, but bass as I said before sound alright. This track has a hidden song in the end where it's just Terry Butler, Greg Gall and Chris Barnes performing. It's quite funny actually, it sort of sounds kinda one of those poetry jams you hear about except this is done with growls. He says something about some white willow and talks about it.

Well if you were (un)lucky like me and wasted an extra 7 bucks on the digipack version of "Bringer Of Blood", you'd get a bonus DVD which isn't that bad. It contains a documentry featuring SFU called "Inside Death Metal" which gives people an insight on what the death metal scene is about and so on. Plus the DVD contains an interview with Chris and the making of Bringer Of Blood and pratice footage of the band playing some of the material on the album. It's nothing big, but it's not worth the extra money I paid for it because there's nothing much to see on it. Oh well, that's my mistake for buying the digipack and let alone buying the cd! So I was expecting alot from this group on this release and I got alot... alot of shit! In the end, they did not deliver blood as the title reads. It's apparent this is the worst of their releases and they will probably keep getting terrible at their own game. I can see why most people consider SFU the most hated death metal band in the world now. This release proves that point because they've delivered a piece of fresh newly excreted shit and nothing more... nothing less.

Ear Catchers: Bringer Of Blood, Amerika The Brutal

What the Hell was that? - 10%

stickyshooZ, May 1st, 2004

This album was a complete piece of shit, so I'll make this review short.

What we have here is nothing but brutally unbearable music. Barnes’ screams are complete trash from all of the weed he’s done over the years. His high pitched screams are just as bad (ex. the part in "Sick In The Head" where he screams "Oh my fucking God!"), not to mention his monotonous nature and stupid lyrics. Boring and repetitive guitar riffs. There are a few (but very brief) cool and fast guitar parts (My Hatred has one or two cool parts), other than the few seconds of coolness the rest is shit.

The bass doesn't stand out at all. Terry Butler was good when he was in Death, but either bad creativity or the fact that he is just not trying is restricting him. The drumming is average, so nothing really stands out about it. The best part of this listening experience was the guitar, and even that sucked. For the love of everything in existence, don't feed this band any money by purchasing this album.

How could a former death metal god like Barnes fall so damn low?

Six Feet Under - Bringer of Blood - 75%

Jackie, December 22nd, 2003

My biggest complaint with previous Six Feet Under releases has been the fact that they sounded just like Obituary. After five albums, Six Feet Under has finally developed a sound of their own.

While I'm not a fan of track by track reviews, each track on this album is so unique that I feel an overall review of the album won't do it justice. So please, bear with me as I give you:

The Best of the New Six Feet Under.

Track 3 - "My Hatred" - Is Chris a wrestling fan? If not, it sounds like he should be. The "Hell Yeahs" is this song sound just like Stone Cold Steve Austin. The rest of the song sound like it could be Randy Savage's death metal project. There are just so many places that the good old "Ohhh yeah!" would fit. I'm not complaining here, just observing.

Track 4 - "Murdered in the Basement" - Best death metal lyrics ever.

Track 6 - "Bringer of Blood" - Holy shit. While I was listening to this song, my head almost exploded. At first I thought Six Feet Under had incorporate synthesizers into their music. However, based on my experience with the synth, and after listening to the song a second and third time, I came to the conclusion that Chris was doing the oh's and ah's all by himself, adding a lot of delay to make them sound...pretty. Very mellow and soothing, the oh's and ah's add a lot to the over all brutality of the track.

Track 7 - "Ugly" - "You're so ugly you deserve to die." Simple yet effective. How many of us say this on a daily basis? Okay, I don't, but it would sure make my life a hell of a lot more interesting. Also, I really think Chris has an unhealthy obsession with Ice T. Case in point: At the end of this track, Chris "growls": "screams (pause) screams (pause) screams (pause)" Ice T's Body Count: "body count (pause) body count (pause) body count (pause)" Coincidence? I think not.

Track 9 - "Blind and Gagged" - The guitar solos on this track are awesome, to say the least. Amazing sweeps and arpeggios (ala Trey Azagthoth) and by far the most complex and intense guitar playing I have ever heard on a Six Feet Under album. Steve Swanson is the man, and now we actually get to hear it.

Track 11 - "Escape From the Grave" - This is the only song on the album that sounds like Obituary as far as the vocal styling and guitar riffs, so I'm not going to complain about it. I'm just going to let you know that it sounds like Obituary.

Hidden Track: Without giving too much away, it's a song about white willows.

While the lyrics on the past albums have been about death and murder and other horror film related topics, the lyrics on this album are more about personal experiences and Chris's view of the world and things that are currently going on. While this might not be the way fans of Six Feet Under want the lyrics to go, it's really quite refreshing in my opinion to see a band like Six Feet Under concentrate more on the musical aspect of an album.

Buy this album 'cause Pot Smokin' Barnes said so! Hell YEAH!

mostly a yawn, but the occasional headbang... - 55%

Iron_Thunder, December 3rd, 2003

The latest from American Death Metallers Six Feet Under brings some awesome grooves and tunes, but they also present some differences which, I heard, many people found disappointing. “Bringer of Death” is another album in Six Feet Under’s somewhat mainstream take of “old school” Death Metal—which is either great or annoying, depending upon what side of the fence you’re on (make up your own mind). The music is straight forward and uncomplicated, though it often works to the album’s advantage—I certainly got a head bang and a tappin’ toe out of “Bringer of Blood,” though I also found myself wanting to skip some tracks…The album is not terrible –it does have some good songs—but basically, where’s the Death? If there was a cross between pop and Death Metal, “Bringer of Blood” might be it. I know I’ll gate hate mail for saying that.

Guitars (Steve Swanson) and bass (Terry Butler) were great, though two problems arose. First of all, some more extended guitar solos might have been nice, and also I found the guitars a little low on the mix at times. I heard people say that “Bringer of Blood” had great production; I found it a tad wooden sounding, though it didn’t really bug me. Apparently, Chris Barnes (vocals) was trying to take a slightly different approach to his vocals… they sound more like whispers than anything. It’s a little strange, but I kind of like it. He also does his little high-pitched screams, which work well here. And another weird thing! Where’s the gore? The lyrics on this album are more realistic or political, which…I don’t know. I mean, I’m sure the words and protests are sincere and all that, but it doesn’t really say anything new. I feel tempted to say that political lyrics should be left up to someone like Ani DiFranco (or even Kalmah who are a little bit more thoughtful about it) but maybe I’ll get hate mail for that, too. Anyway, the lyrics didn’t really do anything for me.

Still, there were a few gory songs (though a tad toned down), like “Murdered in the Basement” and “When the Skin Turns Blue,” which are both great tunes. Some other neat tracks are “Blind and Gagged,” despite its too-short guitar solo, “Bringer of Blood,” despite its redundancy and “Amerika the Brutal,” despite its old potatoes political commentary… There’s a ghost track following the finale, “Escape From the Grave;” hidden tracks are always fun to listen to. And what else? I think this album is either for new comers to Six Feet Under or else die-hard fans who will always like whatever the band chooses to release... A catchy album in some ways, but at the end of the day, it’s the last thing on my mind.

Oh sweet Jesus. - 10%

Minion, December 2nd, 2003

Is this what is being passed of as death metal nowadays? If so, I fear for our future as a species, because Six Feet Under - Bringer of Blood is a giant festering pile of crap just waiting to be stepped in.

Now, first we must address the fact that this abortion contains the track Amerika the Brutal, which must be the worst 'death metal' song ever. Ever. EVER. This song is so incomprehensibly shitty that upon listening to it your brain will implode due to the inability to withstand the sucking.

Then there's the production. The guitars were apparently recorded in a bog filled with mud with the surface density of fried spam, because the guitars are extremely muddy. I could make a better guitar tone with my ass, and that's without bragging. There's also the drums, which are placed far too high up in the mix and near St. Anger-like atrocity at some points, and the bass, which is nearly nonexistant. And Barnes' voice! He sounds like the fucking cookie monster. His voice makes him sound like he is trying to shit out his colon through his eye. The only reason I can tolerate his voice at some parts (but then, 'tolerate' may be too strong a word) is because his voice is so tear-jerkingly hilarious.

All the tracks sound exactly the same: wet, sloppy riffs that do not resemble death metal in the slightest, Barnes' I'll-eat-you-all-up-'cuz-I-be-necro-yo vocals once again comparing themselves to the shit I just took, and simple, annoying drums. The lyrics are terrible, even by Chris Barnes' normal standards. The songs also tend to sound like disjointed jam sessions, but not in the good Cynic way, just in a bad early Mayhem demo way. Throughout the album, the thick, bubbly guitars waft their way around, and Barnes' nu-metal whines make you want to vomit and laugh at the same time. There is no difference between When The Skin Turns Blue, Amerika the Brutal, Escape From The Grave, anything.

This is slightly better than St. Anger, though saying that would of course beg the question of whether or not something of which actually exists on this earth. But when an album is so bad that you would rather listen to Load while simultaneously being anally raped by rabid coyotes, there is something terribly, terribly wrong.

Just plain bad. - 17%

Smyrma, November 2nd, 2003

I haven't heard any other Six Feet Under albums. I like Barnes-era Cannibal Corpse albums but I hadn't heard anything good about SFU so I never took the time to check them out. I got a promo copy of this album because I was preparing to interview Chris Barnes for a magazine I write for. Anyway, the riffs (provided by bassist Terry Butler and guitarist Steve Swanson) are really simplistic and slow, Greg Gall's drumming is incredibly standard, and the vocals are terrible. Barnes was "trying something new" with his vocal approach this album and it comes across like he just got bored with the vocal style he helped to create so he's trying to start over with this vibrato whisper/growl. It's really annoying. The lyrics don't all follow Barnes' usual gore themes. "Sick In The Head" enters the nu-metal lyrical realm of "Watch out - I'm crazy!" and "Amerika the Brutal" has SFU attempting a political message with laughable results. So far, all I've said is negative things, and that's not entirely accurate. There are still some catchy moments and some cool riffs, but they're so few and far between that it's hard to enjoy the album.

The highlight is in "When Skin Turns Blue" when Barnes growls "Goddamn - all of you" but it sounds like "Goddamn - I love you!" Cracks me up.

A mix between Warpath and True Carnage - 82%

Black_Metal_Bastard, September 29th, 2003

Here we have SFU's newest album, Bringer of Blood. It seems Barnes has went political in some songs, flying off the handle about not going to war and hating the government. Well he makes some good points, but mostly it sounds as if everyone's favorite vocalist has been smoking too much pot as of late. He doesn't make too many relevant points with his lyrics. Surprisingly, there aren't many gore lyrics here. Murdered In the Basement, Escape From the Grave, My Hatred, and When Skin Turns Blue only contain mild gore, nowhere near his usual level. But I guess SFU are always chaning from album to album, so it should come as no surprise to read the political and mild gorey lyrics contained inside.

This release also comes with a bonus DVD which shows the band making the record and some interviews, and also a documentary of the underground DM scene, which is cool to watch. The packaging is also very satisfying. You'll get your money's worth on this front.

Now really the music is not all that bad. Greg Gall is sounding much much better on the drums, and he even does a lot of drum fills, something he didn't do too often in past releases. Steve Swanson's guitar is a tad low in the mix, but nothing to complain about. He does a lot of good riffs throughout the album. Terry Butler's bass is actually audible this time, unlike their past releases where you would never have guessed they actually had a bass player, and Chris Barnes does some great growling, although he doesn't outdo his work on True Carnage, where he sounded a little like Will Rahmer from Mortician, using a low grunt almost to spew forth his sick and disturbing lyrics.

If you have been a fan since the beginning, then you will love this. If you are wanting to check SFU out for the first time, then you may like this too. I personally have a fan since Haunted, so I really liked this album. I have found Murdered In The Basement stuck in my head for a while now. Hmmm, could this be normal???